


Gift from a Goddess

by LuccaAce



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Fix-It, M/M, Redemption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-29
Updated: 2014-07-29
Packaged: 2018-02-10 21:40:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2041230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuccaAce/pseuds/LuccaAce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ward gets de-aged in order to help heal Fitz. Both of them come out less damaged than before.</p><p>Spoilers for Season 1 of Agents of Shield and for the MCU up to Winter Soldier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Unchanging](https://archiveofourown.org/works/628573) by [ice_hot_13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ice_hot_13/pseuds/ice_hot_13). 



> Un-beta'd, and posted quickly after finishing it. Please let me know if you see any major issues so I can fix them and make reading it less painful. Thanks!
> 
> Inspired by all of the "A Most Mysterious Lullaby" series, but especially the one linked. If you like Hockey RPF, or just adorable stories about boys turning into toddlers to better express their feelings, you should check it out. It's adorable. I had been brainstorming how to fix my ship when I read them, and this is the result. But she does it much better than I do.

Ward sat in his cell, staring at the wall, and trying to blame someone else for his stupid mistakes. He tried to blame his older brother for forcing him to torture their little brother, but he knew that if he'd been less of a coward he would've stood up to him and taken the beatings instead. He tried to blame his parents for knowing what was going on and doing nothing to stop it, but he'd been aware of people he could talk to and hadn't wanted to take the chance. He tried to blame Garrett for turning him into the faceless monster who had disgusted Skye so much, but John had always made it painfully clear that he didn't care either way what Ward did.

The only one left to blame, he finally knew, was himself. Everything he'd done, everything he'd been, had been of his own volition, and there wasn't a righteous act to his name.

He kept remembering what they'd said about Fitz. That he'd never be the same. Against his will, he thought about Buddy. It had been years, so many years, but he could still remember the burn of tears behind his eyes, blurring his vision after he'd pulled the trigger. The tears hadn't been there when he released the pod into the ocean, but the grief was greater.

A woman, tall and beautiful, strode into his cell. She wore the same utilitarian clothes as the rest of the MPs guarding him, but something was off. Her hair was worn in a net, plain-looking enough at first glance, but beautiful and intricate upon closer examination.

"Grant Ward, the double-hearted," she greeted him. Her voice was kind, verging on pitying, and her eyes looked down softly.

"What do you want?" He didn't want pity. He didn't want anything but to be left alone. And, maybe, for Fitz to be okay again.

She laughed, and it seemed to fill the room with a feeling of wholeness and health. Grant looked up at her, examining her more closely. Probably not human, he surmised.

"I am here to make you an offer." Her smile seemed honest, but Grant knew better than to trust the appearance of wholesomeness.

He snorted, "Right. And what, exactly, would an Asgardian want to offer me?"

From the pleased sound she made, he knew he'd gotten it right. Her hairpiece shimmered from dullness and shone golden and bright. "You are as clever as I've heard," she complimented him. "And what I would like to offer you is this — a chance to make him whole once again."

His heart pounded with the implications of that. He wanted to shake her and make her explain herself. He wanted to fall to his knees and beg. Instead, he sat impassively, only betrayed by the faintest clench of his jaw.

"Make who whole again?"

"The boy you love, of course!" She laughed again. "As though there were anyone else."

"I don't love Fitz," Ward denied, feeling vaguely uncomfortable.

That pitying look was back in her eye again. "Then how did you know who I meant?"

He opened his mouth to reply, closed it, tried again, and settled for shaking his head and frowning at her.

"Well? Do you want to help heal him?" She looked amused. Grant did not appreciate that.

"How do I know you're actually going to do what you say?" He crossed his arms.

She hmm'd. "You don't. But surely I can't do anything worse than you have done."

Grant actually flinched. "What do you need me to do?"

"That's more like it," she encouraged. "I'll need your energy to heal him. But don't worry; I'll make sure you have an excellent vantage point for his recovery."

He nodded. "Do whatever you need to do."

***

Leopold Fitz had not moved of his own free will in sixteen days. His mother had been informed that he had been killed in the altercation with Hydra, a decision that Coulson had seen as a kindness. Now he lay in a stark hospital room, machines beeping with the beat of his heart, while every once in a while a nurse came by and shook her head.

A small boy wandered into his room. He couldn't have been more than five years old, but his dark eyes regarded the comatose patient with a frightening lack of fear or confusion. Something was wrong with Fitz, he knew, something that was his fault, but people got sick. Sometimes they even died. The boy knew this, and he knew that no one cared when they did.

Suddenly Fitz gasped, then choked on the tube in his throat. The boy watched him warily now — sleeping and sick people he knew how to deal with; it's when they woke up that they gave him trouble.

With shaking hands, Fitz pulled the tube out of his mouth, then coughed some more. The boy saw a paper cup dispenser next to the sink in the bathroom and went to get Fitz a drink. He didn't know what Fitz had planned for him, and he was pretty sure he'd deserve anything he did, but he didn't like to see him hurting.

"Here," he said, holding out the small cup. Fitz's eyes widened as he took in the straight dark hair, pale face, and serious eyes of the child, but he took the offering.

"Thanks," he gasped, then downed the cup in one go. It was really small.

The boy shrugged, then took the cup back and filled it again. Fitz took it right away this time and swallowed the water all at once again.

"What's your name, lad?" Fitz wasn't sure who would leave him with a small child. He didn't know anyone with small children. Unless he'd been out for years and it was Simmons' or Skye's kid. That made him pause and look down at his own hands.

They were pale, as usual, but other than the thinning that was to be expected of an invalid, they didn't seem drastically changed from the last time he saw them.

"You don't gotta be mean," the boy insisted, frowning deeply. "I know I done bad, but you don't gotta be so mean." He was obviously trying to sound tough, but his lip quivered and he looked like he was about to cry.

"What? I don't — " Fitz gaped at him. "I honestly don't know who you are. I don't know any little kids!"

The little boy frowned deeply. That could be true. "M'not that little," he finally insisted. "M'gonna grow up to be big and strong. I 'member being big, but it's real far away."

"You were big? As in grown?" It sounded ridiculous, but he'd seen enough in recent months to discount anything as a possibility. He looked over the boy's tiny features, extrapolating them into the man he'd become, and a theory left him gasping. "Holy shit. Ward."

The boy's blinding smile went unnoticed in the midst of Fitz's panic attack. "C'n call me Grant," he informed Fitz. "Ward is Daddy. And one day Maynard. I'm just Grant."

Fitz didn't look like he'd heard him. He was just sitting there, gaping like a fish, and the heart monitor began to screech in protest of his panic. Nurses came into the room, rushing about, and Grant barely managed to hide before they caught him.

"Someone get Dr. Marshall in here, STAT," one of the harried-looking nurses demanded, shoving Fitz back down onto the bed. "Stay calm, Leo," she told him, in a much more sedate tone of voice.

"I am calm," he demanded. "And I'm fine. Honestly. My arm doesn't even hurt. Hey!" He swung his arm around, examining it closely. "My arm doesn't hurt!"

After nearly two hours of tests and head scratching, the doctors and nurses declared him a medical miracle and released him. He was a little upset that they'd told his mother, the only living relative he had, that he was dead, but there wasn't much he could do about it at this point. At the moment, he was more worried about what they'd done with Baby Ward, or if they'd noticed him at all.

He frowned at that thought, looking back at the hospital. Someone had to take care of him. And it sounded like he had his memories, just that they were more difficult to access than normal. More distant, he'd said.

"Whatcha looking for?" Ward seemed to pop out of nowhere.

"Jeez, boy, you scared me!" Fitz scolded him.

Ward didn't look very sorry. In fact, he looked a little angry and disappointed with Fitz. "Should pay 'tention," he scolded. "Bad guys can kill you."

Fitz scoffed. "I don't think any bad guys are going to try to kill me, Wa-, I mean, Grant."

A dark look, heavy with guilt and shame, marred the small features. "I did."

Grant startled when he was pulled into a tight hug. "I know," Fitz admitted. "But I don't think you wanted to, did you?"

All he could do was shake his head, hair ruffling along Fitz's collar. Fitz felt his shirt dampen with the boy's tears, and he clutched him all the tighter. "It's okay," he reassured Grant, rubbing his back and shushing him. "It's all going to be okay Grant."

Grant's sobs got louder, and he held on as tight as he could. He didn't see how it could possibly be okay, but he trusted Fitz. He would trust Fitz with anything. He loved him so much.

***

"I didn't realize how suspicious it would seem for a single man and a young boy to be renting a hotel room together," Fitz admitted, after finally having secured them a room.

Grant didn't reply, still shaky from his emotional outburst earlier. Fitz got the feeling that, even as a small child, Ward didn't allow himself to cry very often. It was a sad thought.

Fitz stopped trying to engage the child in conversation, instead focusing on what to do next. He was frustrated with the problem, especially as it wasn't one that he often faced. Give him a math puzzle, and he'd have it figured with a quick squint and a scribble. Hand him some new tech and he'd get it disassembled and improved with a flick of a screwdriver and a grin. But put him in an unfamiliar place where he's legally been declared dead with a de-aged traitor from his former team, and all his intelligence was useless. He sighed heavily.

"I don't suppose you know why you're suddenly little, do you?" He knew he'd said he was done trying to get Grant to talk, but maybe that would help!

Grant watched him closely. "She said it'd make you better," he said at last. "Said it would heal you."

"Who said?" Although this might explain his sudden recovery.

The boy shrugged. "Some lady. She's Asgr- Asgarn- As-something-ian," he mumbled.

"Asgardian?" Fitz heard his voice hit an octave it hadn't made since he was thirteen. "An Asgardian told you she'd turn you into a wee boy and I would get better?"

To Fitz's shock, Grant giggled. "You said wee," he laughed. Then he laughed some more. Fitz wanted to be annoyed with him, but laughter transformed his face completely. He remembered what it had been like the few times he'd seen Ward laugh, and realized that there wasn't much he wouldn't do to make him laugh some more.

"Brat," Fitz said fondly, reaching over and ruffling the dark hair. "I meant small. Little. Tiny. Miniscule."

"But that's not what you said," he sing-songed, then dissolved into giggles again.

Fitz retaliated by tickling his skinny ribs, sending the boy into gleeful convulsions of laughter as he tried to escape the scientist. "Fitz!" He shrieked happily.

"Yes, Master Grant? Is there something I can do for you?" He stopped tickling, but pulled the boy into his arms and held him in a fond hug.

"Love you," Grant twisted around to tell him, meeting his eyes and sounding like this was the most important thing he'd ever said.

For a moment, Fitz just stared at the tiny face. Then he pulled him into a tight hug. "I love you, too, Grant," he whispered into the boy's hair.

He did, too, but he'd never had the guts to say it. It had been different from the gentle, sweet love he'd felt for Jemma. His love for Grant had always been this overwhelming, all-consuming thing, and it had scared him when he'd identified it for being love. Now, however, with the tiny thing in his arms, he couldn't bear to deny it.

"Really?" Grant's eyes were as serious as Fitz had ever seen, and he ached with how sharply and suddenly he missed the Grant Ward he'd come to care for so deeply on the Bus.

"Really," Fitz confirmed.

Grant looked away, suddenly sad. "Shouldn't. I'm bad. Shouldn't love bad."

"Grant, you're not bad," Fitz protested. "You were made to betray us — it wasn't your choice."

"It was," Grant insisted. "I choosed. John said...John said you can't get too close." Grant's face scrunched up, trying to remember what John had said. "Getting close means getting weak. I had to make the weak go away."

Fitz felt his heart breaking. He'd known, deep down, that Ward didn't have to push that button; that he could have chosen an alternative to sending Fitz and Simmons down to what was nearly their deaths, but he hadn't accepted it before. Most of him wanted to shove Grant away and tell him to never talk to him again, but he couldn't bear to do that to a kid.

"Did you want to do it? Did it make you happy to see me and Jemma falling in the container?"

"No!" Grant shouted at him. "Not happy. So sad! But I can't be weak. If I'm weak, then I'm dead. Useless. Didn't want to, but did it anyway. I still choosed." He frowned sadly and pulled away from Fitz. "But I'm still weak."

"Grant," Fitz said gently. "No matter what Garrett told you, it's not weak to love someone, or to want the best for someone."

"You sure?" He looked suspicious but too emotionally exhausted to resist the idea.

Fitz lay a hand on the little round shoulder. "Of course I'm sure." He smiled a little at Grant, then added, "I'm a genius, you know. So I'm always right."

Grant scoffed at that and threw Fitz's hand off, but the way he threw himself close enough to feel Fitz's body heat on the bed belied any real hostility. "C'n I sleep in bed with you tonight?" When Fitz hesitated, sure of how the hotel staff, who were already suspicious of them, would take it, the little boy scooted away and apologized. "Sorry. Shouldn't. 'M a big boy, and mother says big boys don't need to share beds. Father says big boys who need to share beds are bad words. Sorry."

Heart breaking at the way Grant called his parents 'Father' and 'Mother,' and at the insults they'd so casually thrown around him, Fitz interrupted him. "No, I was just surprised, Grant. See, I was afraid of sleeping on my own, since I was in that bed in the hospital alone for so long, and I was afraid you'd think badly of me for wanting to share. Seems I was right." He did his best to look dejected.

"I don't think you're bad!" Grant insisted, rushing back and clutching at Fitz's arm. "We can share. Mother and Father lie, anyway. All the time. Sharing is okay, for big boys, too."

"Well, if you're sure," Fitz hedged, then smiled a little sadly into Grant's hair when the boy grabbed him in a tight hug.

"Sure, Fitz. Sure."

They brushed their teeth and changed clothes, pajamas for Fitz and one of Fitz's softest T-shirts for Grant, then got into bed. Fitz wasn't surprised when Grant tried really hard to be still before the little boy dropped hard into sleep. The engineer watched his small face, creased with a frown even in sleep, for a long time before he drifted off, as well.

***

The next few days went strangely smooth. Fitz and Grant went off to buy clothes, Fitz posing as Grant's uncle, and Fitz wondered whether or not he should tell Coulson about this development. On one hand, it seemed that Coulson should know that there was an Asgardian going around, turning people (okay, one that he knew of, but there could be more) into small children. On the other, he wasn't sure how Coulson would receive Baby Ward.

In the end, he decided to try and live his life the best he could while taking care of the toddler. The military base he'd left had set him up with a new ID and documents returning him to most of the same PhD levels as before. Leopold McCullough had a UK passport, stamps from various Western European countries, and an American work visa.

"You're going to have to get used to calling me 'Leo,'" he told Grant while they were driving to his new job. He'd applied for a position as an adjunct professor at the local technical university, and they'd leapt at the chance to have him. Apparently it was difficult to get people with Mechanical Engineering PhDs to come to their school.

Grant nodded seriously. "I'll try, Fitz. I mean Leo. I'll try real hard."

"I know you will, laddie," Leo agreed, smiling into the rearview mirror. "Now are you ready to check out the apartment? Remember, as far as anyone can know, you're my sister's kid and I'm watching you for a bit while she gets things sorted out with the divorce from your father." It was probably a little overboard for a cover story, but there was no way they could really incorporate any of the truth.

"Should I call you 'Uncle Leo?'" Ward frowned at that, looking like he hated it even as he suggested it.

Leo hid his smirk at the adorable way his little nose wrinkled. "No, and if anyone asks, I don't want to be called 'Uncle.' It may come across as weird, but no one should question it."

"Cool," Grant sighed, settling into his booster seat again. "Am I going to school?"

"Um," Fitz wasn't actually sure. "How old are you?"

"This many," Grant told him, shaking his hand out in front of him.

Fitz squinted into the rearview. "Four?" He was pretty sure Grant was waving four little fingers around, but it was hard to tell.

"Yep!" He sounded proud of himself.

"Do you want to go to school?" Leo was pretty sure that was about the age kids started, but he couldn't actually remember, and it wasn't like he'd had a lot of exposure to anyone under the age of twenty since he'd been in high-school.

Grant hmm'd, waggling his head back and forth. "Maybe. Will the kids be nice?"

"I'll ask around and make sure you get put into the school with the nicest kids," Leo promised, which seemed to please Grant. He wasn't sure how long Grant would be a child, or if he'd be stuck as one, but working full-time meant that he really had to find some place for him, and in case he did turn out to be stuck, Leo wanted him to have the best education possible.

They pulled up in front of a nice-looking apartment complex on the edge of the college property before Leo could keep freaking out about it.

"You must be Dr. McCullough," a smooth-skinned black woman greeted, smiling warmly. "And who is this?"

"This is Grant," Leo introduced. The boy was watching the woman with narrowed black eyes. "He's my nephew, and he'll be staying with me for a while. It's a long story," he said, hoping that would put her off of asking for details.

"I suppose that's why you wanted a two-bedroom, then," was all the woman, Dr. Clarice Jones, had to say about that. "We're so excited to have you here, Dr. McCullough. Your references all gave glowing reviews of your skills, and we have so many students who could really benefit from your expertise."

"Um, thanks," Leo managed, feeling his face turn red at the praise. He knew he was awesome, but other people rarely acknowledged it so openly in front of him.

A tiny hand tugged sharply at Leo's khaki pants. When Leo looked down at Grant, he saw a storm of anger across the tiny face. "Don't like, Leo," he tried to whisper.

"You don't like it here?" Leo hazarded. It wasn't gated, but surely Grant wasn't that paranoid as a child.

"No," he wailed. "You. Don't like her." His lip trembled, but he bit it before he could start crying. Leo felt a surge of rage inside of him for whoever had made Grant feel like he couldn't express his emotions at such a young age.

He knelt down to be closer to eye-level with Grant. "Grant, she's a nice lady. Why don't you want me to like her?"

"Don't want you to love her more than me," Grant admitted quietly, gritting his teeth together.

Leo pulled Grant into his arms and pressed a kiss to the crown of his head. "I couldn't possible like her more than you, Grant," Leo told him honestly.

"I think I can see what you mean by long story," Dr. Jones said drily. "Everything settled?"

"Hope so," Leo huffed in a laugh. "He's a little possessive of me, I'm afraid."

Clarice hummed at that, smiling fondly. "Here's the place," she said, opening one of the doors on ground level. "Living room, dining room, bathroom, and the bedrooms are those two doors there. Any questions, comments, concerns?"

"Looks great, Dr. Jones. Thanks for all this," Leo told her, shaking her hand.

"Of course, Dr. McCullough. If you have any problems, call me. My number is on the directory on your fridge. See you soon!" As she left, she smiled and waved at Grant, who just glared back.

"All right, let's get moved in," Leo clapped his hands together.

***

School didn't start for either of them for another two weeks, so Leo divided his time between making lesson plans and playing with Grant. When Leo was working on his laptop, Grant was watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and pretending like he didn't care whether he got the Mouseketools right. It was very distracting, but Leo couldn't be annoyed.

"I would have guessed trashcan, too, Grant," Leo told him, when he'd guessed the wrong tool. "How would you have used it instead of the microphone?"

While Grant explained that trashcans were echo-y, like a microphone, Leo couldn't suppress his fond smile.

"What?" Grant asked suspiciously.

"You're just so smart, Grant," Leo told him. Then he held out his arms to the boy. To his surprise, Grant smiled and launched himself at Leo, snuggling in close.

They sat together for a few minutes, just enjoying being close, before Grant began squirming. "Play with me?"

"Sure," Leo closed his laptop and got into the floor with the big Lego bricks. Leo had to restrain himself from taking complete control of the bricks, and made himself follow the directions of Grant. Today, it seemed, they were making another very tall brick wall. This time, however, it was solid blue.

Grant babbled about how big the wall was going to be and how it would protect them from the bad guys, and Leo just nodded and smiled, feeling a simple happiness settle on him like mist.

***

The next day, Leo woke up earlier than normal. He turned on the coffee pot, then stuck his head in the fridge, trying to figure out what to make them for breakfast.

"Um, Leo?"

Leo turned to see a young teenager, probably about fourteen years old, standing awkwardly in the hallway, wrapped tightly in a sheet.

"Grant?" He looked like Grant — the same dark hair and eyes that he'd had as an adult and as a toddler, but Leo could see the way his shoulders were beginning to broaden and how his cheekbones stood out more as he was starting to lose his baby fat.

"Yeah, um, can I borrow some of your clothes?" His face was bright red, and Leo had to smother a hysterical giggle.

"Of course. Go on ahead. I'll, er, make us some breakfast then." Leo stood there as Grant walked into his room. He guessed it wasn't permanent, then.

He shook himself violently. "Too early for this," he complained quietly, grabbing the butter and figuring that toast was as complicated as he'd be able to handle.

While they sat at the tiny table, eating their toast and drinking coffee (Leo had been drinking coffee since he was twelve — he figured a teenaged Grant could handle it, even if the boy had put in a ridiculous amount of sugar and milk), Leo broke the silence.

"So how old are you now?"

"Fourteen," he admitted, face turning red again. "I, uh, I remember more about being big, I mean a grownup, I mean an adult!" He slumped over his plate and banged his head on the table.

"Okay. Anything relevant?" Leo had already had the 'it's okay that you were a crazy person' talk with Baby Ward. He really hoped he didn't need to repeat it with Teen Ward. Especially since he was a little afraid that the boy would actually combust if Leo had to say anything meaningful.

"Just, well, a little about the Asgardian who did this?"

"Is that a question?" Leo knew he shouldn't tease Grant, but it was too easy, and he'd never been in a position of authority over a teenager before. This was fun.

"No," Grant answered sullenly, face still red but drawn into a frown.

"Aw, c'mon Grant. I didn't mean to tease. What did you remember?" Leo smiled encouragingly at him.

"Something about energy?" Then he huffed and tried again, "Something about energy."

"What about energy? It made you into a kid?" Obviously such a transformation would take energy, probably, but that wasn't exactly helpful.

"No, like, Newton? Right? That's the guy who said something about energy can't go away or whatever?" Grant looked extremely uncomfortable to be talking about science.

"Newton talked about motion," Fitz reminded him. "You're thinking Conservation of Energy. They're both physics, and I can see how you'd connect them in your mind. Good job!" He remembered the way Baby Ward would preen under his praise and couldn't help but think that positive reinforcement was something that had been seriously lacking in Grant's childhood.

Grant flushed, but he tried to hide a smile in his coffee cup, so Leo counted it as a win. "What else did the Asgardian say about it?"

"Just that life-force was like energy, and we produce it on our own? But sometimes not enough to heal ourselves? And, since it can't be created out of nothing, she had to borrow some. And that's why I got turned into a kid." He obviously didn't still think of himself like a kid.

"Borrow it for what?"

"For you," Grant told him, and when Leo looked at him, Grant was staring intently at him, meeting his eyes challengingly.

"So she just came to you, told you she needed some life-energy, and turned you into a kid to make me better?" Leo couldn't keep the outrage out of his voice.

"Don't be dumb," Grant rolled his eyes. Suddenly Leo understood why that always made his mother want to strangle him. "She asked me. Said she could help you, but I had to agree."

"Did she tell you she'd let you out of your cell?" Because as much as Leo wanted to trust Grant, he had learned the hard way to be wary.

"No. She didn't even tell me that I'd be turned into a kid. I kinda thought I was going to be, you know, in your position, and you'd be all healthy again." He shrugged. "Wouldn't have been more than I deserved."

"Grant," Leo sighed, reaching across the table to touch him. The teen flinched away.

"Don't. Why are you so dumb? Why do you keep trusting me? I may not remember exactly what I knew as an adult, but I know enough to kill you. You shouldn't be anywhere near me."

"You didn't want to hurt me, Grant. You felt like you had to. It was wrong, and I still hate that you did it, but I forgive you." He got up and walked around the table. Grant still flinched away, so Leo just put a hand on his shoulder and rubbed his thumb against the wing of his shoulder blade.

This time Grant didn't cry, but he clenched his jaw and looked out the window. He tried to say something a couple of times, but Leo could see his throat working against tears, and apparently whatever he had to say wasn't nearly as important as maintaining the illusion of being unflappable.

Later, when their emotions had calmed down, they sat side-by-side on the couch, watching Jeremy Wade on the Animal Planet catch killer freshwater fish. Leo could feel Grant's eyes on him, but he wasn't sure what to say. Part of him felt like he should apologize, for what he didn't have a clue, part of him was hoping that Grant would let it go and just be for a while, and the rest of him was contemplating the implications of life-energy and how being made a kid again could possibly produce energy instead of take it.

Long fingers brushed his ear, and Leo furrowed his brow. He looked over at Grant, puzzled, then dropped his jaw at the sultry look on the teen's face.

"No," he said quickly, scrambling from the couch and putting space between them.

Grant looked confused. "Why not? I mean, I know I don't look exactly like I did as an adult, but you told me when I was little that you loved me, and I figure the only reason you would possibly be so stupid about me is if you had a crush on me. Grown me, I mean."

"You're a goddamn teenager! Fourteen! I'm not going to sleep with a fourteen year-old, Grant!" Leo was too shocked to remember to refute the crush, which Grant noticed.

"C'mon," he smirked, looking more like his adult self than Leo was comfortable with. "After all you've done for me, it's the least I can do. I mean, when's the last time you got laid, huh?"

"That's not—! Shut up, it's not happening. Jeez, that is not something you just trade on, Ward." Leo ran his fingers shakily through his hair.

"Sure it is. People want my body, and if I let them have it for a night, or an hour or whatever, then I get stuff I want. Or, in this case, you've already given me a lot, so I figure I can let you screw me, and then we'll be even." He shrugged, like that was a normal train of thought for a teenager to have.

The casual way Grant treated himself saddened Leo. "Ward. Grant. You're worth more than that, you know?"

Grant snorted, derisively. "That's your problem, Fitz. You can't see that I'm really, really, not. But whatever, if you don't want to have sex with me, I'm going to go to bed. Goodnight."

Leo sat on the couch while the rest of the episode played out. Finally, after Jeremy caught the fish he was after and released it back into the water, he shook his head and turned everything off. As he tossed and turned in the sheets, he couldn't help but think that it was no wonder Garrett was able to get to him so easily.

***

The next three days were tense, speaking diplomatically. When Leo was feeling less diplomatic about it, he called them hellish.

As a teenager, Grant was short-tempered, pushy, disrespectful, and too damn smart for his own good. He never talked about anything meaningful, choosing instead to either throw insults at Leo or attempt to seduce him, and eat all of his snack food.

"Seriously, Grant, we've both got to eat. You can't keep drinking all the milk! At least text me or something so I know to pick some up on the way home," Leo exclaimed, throwing away the empty milk carton, which Grant had put back in the fridge.

"You could let me make it up to you," Grant said with a leer.

"Did you offer to sleep with Garrett, too?" Leo wondered aloud, thinking that it would be much worse if he had.

Grant wrinkled his nose. "Gross. No. At least, I'm mostly sure I didn't. I can't remember everything, but I think I'd remember that. Besides, I'm pretty sure he's completely straight."

"Was," Leo corrected him.

"Was," Grant agreed, looking torn over that reminder. "He wasn't a good man. Or a nice man. And I know you don't understand why I was so loyal to him but —" he cut himself off, shaking his head.

"But what?" Leo prodded.

"No one else gives a damn about me, Fitz. I mean, you obviously have some misguided feelings somewhere, but I mean now, like, me as a teenager. My parents don't care about me, my older brother actively hates me, my other siblings are scared of me, and my teachers and crap just want me out of their hair. At least he thinks—thought—that I could be useful." Grant shrugged, trying to look tough.

Leo couldn't handle the fragile expression on his face. He pulled Grant into a hug, hiding his face on the teen's too-broad shoulder. "I'm sorry that happened to you," he said into the borrowed t-shirt. "But you don't have to be that way anymore. I care about you, as a person, not because you're useful, but because you're you, d'you understand?"

"Does that mean you do want to sleep with me?" Grant tried to sound suggestive, but his voice was too shaky for that.

"Idiot," Leo said fondly, then stepped back and ruffled the boy's hair.

***

That night they both fell asleep in front of the TV while it played reruns of Law and Order. Leo kept a hand on Grant's arm the whole time, wishing he could press feelings of value and worth into the boy's skin.

When he woke up, the first thing he realized was that he'd somehow migrated from leaning against the armrest to leaning into Grant's side. He cursed, trying to sit up and hoping the boy wouldn't take this as an opportunity to harass him some more.

"Fitz?" The voice below his ear was deeper than he'd heard the past few days. Leo also noticed that the chest was broader, stretching Leo's shirt indecently, and that the button had apparently popped off of his jeans.

This time Leo made sure to sit all the way up. "Grant!" He grinned at his friend, then hugged him tightly. "I've missed you."

Ward scoffed. "Why?"

"Lots of reasons. Lately because you were an awful shit as a teenager." Leo grinned at him.

The smirk on Ward's face was unapologetic. "Not my fault that you get flustered at a teenager trying to have sex with you."

Ignoring the topic entirely, mostly because he had a lot fewer reasons not to have sex with Adult Ward, Leo asked, "Are you feeling okay? Everything feel like normal again?"

"My throat doesn't hurt any more. I wonder if the Asgardian used the energy to heal that the same time she made me a kid." Grant felt along his larynx thoughtfully, and Fitz tried very hard not to follow the movement too closely.

"That's great," he managed, sounding strangled. Ward raised an eyebrow at him, smirking again, and Fitz knew he hadn't hid his interest very well. "So what now?"

Ward's face went dark. "I don't know," he told Fitz honestly. "I mean, there's probably a search out for me, considering how I went missing from a maximum security military prison. And Dr. Jones will expect you to have a nephew here, not a grown man."

"The second one's easy," Fitz dismissed. "We'll tell her that baby Grant had to go back to his parents. And you're my friend, come to stay with me a bit."

"Fitz," Grant sounded disappointed. "You aren't seriously considering staying here, with me, are you? Because that's crazy. You should be with Coulson. Or Simmons. Or — " he stumbled over his words, then cleared his throat and finished. "Or with Skye. Not me. My life is over, Fitz. They'll eventually catch up to me, and I don't want you caught in the crossfire." His back straightened, and Fitz saw echoes of the man he'd known on the Bus.

"Please don't do that," Fitz sighed, sinking into the couch. "I know that's not really you, Ward. You're just acting like the person you think I'll respond best to."

"Fine," Ward shrugged, concerned big-brother look falling off his face. "Still doesn't change the facts, though." He kicked back on the couch, carefully not touching Fitz.

"They told my mother I was dead, did you know that? The only living family I have, and I can't even let her know that I'm alive." Fitz frowned at his hands in his lap. "I don't know where they are, and at the moment, I'm too pissed with them to care. The school here seems like it really needs me, and I don't want to abandon them just when the semester's about to start. I'd also like to get to know the real you, if you don't mind. It's not very likely that anyone would look for you here, of all places, so we can figure things out for a while. Take a break. Just live our lives for ourselves, for once."

Grant watched him carefully, seeing Fitz's exhaustion, unhappiness, and undiluted honesty. He knew, despite everything, that Fitz wouldn't hesitate before putting his life in danger for Grant. That kind of devotion baffled Grant, and he figured he could stick around for a little while to figure it out.

"Okay," he agreed. When Leo's eyes snapped to his, he smiled, an honest smile that didn't get much use. "Just for a semester."

Fitz grinned at him, unaware of the way that his affection shone clearly from his face. Something about it caught in Grant's chest. It hurt.

"Don't look at me like that, Fitz," Grant warned, voice rough. "I know you're stupidly optimistic about me, but I really am not a good man."

Leo swallowed, and Grant couldn't stop himself from following the movement of his throat. It would be so easy, to take Leo in his arms, cover that too-pink mouth with his own, open up his body and make him shout and cry with pleasure. But he wouldn't do it. Leopold Fitz practically embodied good and pure and right, and Grant Ward didn't deserve him.

***

It took three days for Coulson to find them once Ward was back to being an adult. He wished he could be grateful for it, for them pulling him out of the fantasy of domesticity with Fitz, but he wasn't a good enough person to feel anything but resentment.

The three days they had with him as an adult were calm, full of friendly ribbing and easy affection. Now that he knew what he was looking for, he saw the way Leo's eyes followed him when he stretched, noticed him licking his lips whenever Grant took a long swallow of water, felt pale eyes following the movements of his hands. They never talked about it, and Grant could only be glad that Leo never mentioned the words of trust and love that had spewed from his mouth as a child.

There had been moments, a few of them, where their eyes would catch, Leo would lick at his mouth, and Grant would want to shove the engineer against the wall and fuck him stupid. But he'd resisted, determined to be a better person. He let Fitz see the real him, the him that was brooding and calculating and coarse. After a while, once Fitz realized that the Grant Ward he'd had a crush on didn't really exist, Leo would move on and forget about Grant. That was how things should be.

Still, when the team came to their apartment (and, shit, when had Grant started thinking of it as 'their' place?), he wished for a few more days with Fitz. Because, while Fitz had developed a crush on a fake Ward, Grant had fallen in love with a very real Leo. And even if he wasn't going to let himself take everything he wanted, just being with him made everything better.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here, Ward?" Skye was furious. Her passion was what had drawn him to her from the beginning, and also what had given her the strength to turn on him so well. The part of him that had seriously been trying to train her and do right by her as her SO was pleased.

He shrugged, breaking out a smarmy smirk he knew would aggravate her. "Just hanging out with Fitz. What are you doing here?"

Before she could attack him, May stepped in. "You know you shouldn't be out here. I don't know how you escaped, but it won't happen again." She was cold where Skye had been hot, but he wouldn't mistake her coldness for unfeeling ever again. His throat ached with the memory of that lesson.

"What do you think you're doing?" Fitz ran in from the parking lot. "Leave him alone, guys. He's not hurting anyone here."

"Fitz!" Simmons ran over to him and began scanning him with some medical instrument while she hugged him. "It's fine; we're here now, and we'll take care of him."

"But I've been taking care of him," Fitz protested. "He's not doing anything wrong. He didn't ask to get let out of his cell, and he's been with me the whole time anyway."

The team shared a puzzled look.

"No he hasn't," Skye told Fitz carefully. "We've been monitoring you. You had a kid with you, and then a teenager, which I thought was a little strange because you've never seemed like you wanted to take in needy kids before, but I guess a near-death experience can —"

"Skye," Coulson interrupted. "We get it. What she's trying to say is that we would have seen Ward at some point, had he been with you the whole time."

Fitz looked over at Grant, unsure as to whether or not he should share the truth. Grant shrugged, then nodded, so Fitz took a deep breath. They were going to call him crazy.

Their faces showed a constantly varying spectrum fluctuating between disbelief, concern, and mistrust as he told their story. He ended with, "And we've just been hanging out here for the past few days. I've been teaching, of course, but Grant's been hanging around the flat, taking care of things, cooking and the like. He's not been in any trouble."

"Can't you see he's playing you, Fitz?" Skye was the most adamant. "You know how good he is at putting on a front. Don't trust him."

When Grant snorted, all their eyes swung to him. "It's funny, you know? Because I've been telling him the same thing ever since the hospital. But, I figure, he's an adult, for a certain value of adult," his face made his true feelings on that clear, "and if he wants to be around me, I don't see why I should stop him."

"You weren't in the hospital, though, Ward," Simmons informed him through gritted teeth.

"Did your video stalking pick up on a kid going into Leo's room?" Ward sneered at the affirmation on their faces. "And did the same child come here with Leo afterward? And was there any evidence of the child leaving before you picked up on the teen?"

"That's not enough proof," Skye spat. "You need to stop lying to poor Fitz and leave the guy alone!"

"I have tried to leave him alone. Okay? But I don't have anywhere else to go right now." Ward spoke through gritted teeth, anguish over the feelings he'd once had for Skye sitting in the pit of his stomach. "For the record, though? I haven't lied to him since the hospital."

"Well I don't believe you," she informed him.

He scoffed. "I don't care."

"Stop it! Both of you," Fitz stood between them, looking frazzled. "I am staying here for at least the duration of the semester, and I want Ward to stay with me. If he wants to stay, that is." He looked warily over at Grant, who shrugged agreeably. "Now, as Grant said earlier, I am an adult and am perfectly capable of making my own decisions."

"Grant Ward is a criminal and a traitor," May said calmly. "You can stay if you want, but he's coming with us."

When Fitz made to protest that, the combination of May and Coulson glaring at him took the wind out of his sails. He hung his head dejectedly, kicking his chucks in the dirt, before making another request.

"Can I have a minute alone to talk to him before you take him away?"

Coulson sighed heavily, rubbing at his aching eyes. "Fine. But we're still taking him with us."

Fitz dragged Grant into the apartment, closing the blinds and locking the door. "It's not fair," he choked out. "You're sorry for what you did. It's not fair."

That was what Grant loved most about him. "It is fair, Leo," he told him quietly. "I did some pretty terrible things. My choice, so it's my punishment. You're too good to me."

Leo's pale eyes were wet when the met Grant's dark gaze. "Someone should be," he insisted.

If this was going to be the last time Grant saw him, he knew he had to take a chance. Even though he knew it would probably only hurt Leo more in the long run, he couldn't be this selfless any more.

Grant pulled Leo in with a rough sound and swallowed the gasp that fell from Fitz's mouth. Time seemed to slow for a moment, while their lips moved sweetly together. Before pulling away, Grant tasted the inside of Leo's lips, and he had to force himself to give him up.

"You remember what I said as a kid?" He asked roughly.

"You said a lot of things," Leo reminded him, stunned.

Grant smiled, small but real, before leaning forward to whisper in Leo's ear. "I love you."

Then he left the apartment and gave himself over to May. This was his righteous act.

***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is where I'd end it if I was a better writer. But then there wasn't a happy ending, and we don't know anything about the goddess, so I added another chapter with some deus-ex-machina (literally) that allowed for my happily ever after. Sorry, not sorry.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mysterious Asgardian goddess returns and makes everything better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As previously stated, deus-ex-machina ahoy!

Once again, Grant Ward sat in a cold cell, alone but for his own contemplations. He missed Fitz like a limb sometimes — spending so much time with the man had allowed him to worm his way into Grant's heart like no one else ever had. Hopefully Leo wasn't angry with him, or with the team. 

"Grant Ward, how did you like my gift?" The same Asgardian as before stood near him, looking sympathetic.

"I'm glad he's better," he told her. "I'm glad you let me be with him, even if it was only for a little while."

She smiled indulgently. "Do you know who I am?" When he shook his head and shrugged, she nodded. "I am Fulla, handmaiden of Frigga. My mistress is dead, as I'm sure you know, but one of the things she often lamented was that she could not offer her son the forgiveness she longed to give him."

"Loki didn't deserve forgiveness," Ward said coldly.

Fulla laughed. "You're right. But it's not about deserving it, now is it? Do you think you are deserving of pardon?"

"No." He knew he wasn't.

"But do you begrudge your beloved his forgiveness?"

"Of course not," Grant sighed.

"Of course not," she agreed. "Now, I should say that you are much more deserving of forgiveness than Loki. And I happen to have some connections in high places."

"What are you saying?" Ward didn't want to hope, but Fitz had shown him how to hope in the impossible, and unlearning that lesson was difficult.

"What I'm saying, I suppose, is you're welcome. Consider it a gift from Frigga, for the son she could not save." Fulla leaned down and brushed a kiss across his forehead, and everything glowed golden.

When he opened his eyes again, he was back in a familiar apartment, but not in the bed he was accustomed to.

"You're awake!" Leo rushed over to him, grinning as widely as his face would allow. "It's been most of a day already."

"Am I dreaming?" Grant sat up, rubbing at his eyes and feeling as though he'd come off of a hard drunk. 

Leo laughed brightly. "Don't be ridiculous. Thor came by and dropped you off. Thor! Can you believe it? And he said he had spoken to the Son of Coul, erm, I mean Coulson, about your pardon. You're on a sort of probation, of course, but they're letting you stay here for a while, and of course I had no problem with that, and — "

Grant cut him off with a hand over his mouth. When Leo stopped trying to talk against his palm, Grant brought his hand back to his lap.

"If you want to, of course," Leo added. He looked so hopeful and afraid that Grant couldn't stop himself. He pulled Leo in for a kiss, enjoying the plush softness of Leo's lips against his for a moment before answering.

"Of course I want to," he murmured into Leo's mouth. "Just try and get rid of me."

Leo laughed delightedly and wrapped himself around Grant, who had no choice but to press the smaller man into the mattress. Grant decided that his new life's goal was to keep Leo laughing as much as possible.

Or to keep making that little noise, he added mentally. Or that one...


End file.
